The nation’s athletes have been going for gold, clocking up an impressive medal haul at the Paris Olympics and Paralympics. Next week it is the turn of the nation’s trainees and apprentices to do the same at the global WorldSkills competition in Lyon.
Held every two years, WorldSkills is the world’s largest international skills contest. Known as the “Skills Olympics”, it features young people from 65 countries competing in 62 different technical disciplines from cabinet making and plumbing to mechatronics, 3D-game design and cybersecurity.
This year’s competition comes at a crucial time, with the launch of the Labour government’s Skills England body designed to tackle the nation’s burgeoning skills deficit.
While skills are crucial to economic growth, with a third of productivity improvement over the past two decades explained by improvements to skills levels, the Learning and Work Institute claims the UK skills shortage will cost the country £120 billion by 2030. Overall, it predicts there will be a shortfall of 2.5 million highly-skilled workers and an oversupply of 8.1 million people with traditional intermediate or low skills.
Government figures show that between 2017 and 2022, UK skills shortages doubled to more than half a million, with the lack of skilled candidates accounting for 36 per cent of all job vacancies.
With this worrying backdrop, the global competition is seen as a vital tool to boost the prestige of practical skills and highlight opportunities beyond traditional academic and university routes into work.
Emma Roberts, director of external affairs, WorldSkills UK, said: “Our competitors will showcase the world-class technical and professional skills that UK employers are crying out for. We are passionate about making sure their inspiring stories of skills success are understood by young people at grassroots level to show that technical routes such as apprenticeships, T levels and BTECs can lead to amazing careers.
“The focus on world-class training standards is crucial to boost the prestige of technical and vocational education.”
This year, 31 young people aged between 16 and 24 will be competing in the combined four-nation Team UK. For employers, having a trainee selected for the WorldSkills team underscores their training as “best in class” both to school leavers considering a career in their sector and to customers, with the trainees that make the grade described as the “kitemark for excellence”.
Siemens has two apprentices competing in Mechatronics at Lyon. Rachel Wilson, head of people, said: “WorldSkills is a fabulous recognition of some of the emerging talent entering the world of work.”
Danny McBean, from the electricians Grants (Dufftown), is the first UK competitor to compete in Renewable Energy. “To have Danny representing the UK in Renewable Energy is a bit of ‘wow’ moment for the young people in local schools, as it showed them just how far an apprenticeship could take them”, his manager Darren Green explained.
At the last WorldSkills Competition in 2022, the UK placed tenth in the world and in the top five for digital skills, two spaces ahead of the 1999 placing. This year, the UK will be entering Additive Manufacturing and Renewable Energy — skills that will be vital in the UK’s transition to net zero.
Roberts concludes: “Being part of these events means we can raise standards in technical education and apprenticeships in the UK, helping thousands of young people get the best start in life.”
TIPS
Do you have what it takes to stand on the winner’s podium at WorldSkills? Here’s how to be selected as a competitor for the next competition.
⬤ Understand the criteria. WorldSkills UK selects the top performing, age eligible competitors from its national programme of competitions to join its two-year international training programme for the international WorldSkills Competition. There is a final selection process, where competitors are assessed before they are invited to join Team UK.
⬤ Decide which category is the most suitable. You can identify the relevant WorldSkills UK National Competition on worldskillsuk.org
⬤ Practise your skills with other apprentices in your workplace to get competition ready.
⬤ Be prepared to train like a sporting Olympian. Practise your skills and put in extra study.
⬤ Follow Team UK on social media and watch the highlights from WorldSkills Lyon 2024 to gain an insight into what it is like to represent your country on the world stage.
⬤ Sign up to the WorldSkills UK Learning Lab to access competition briefs and register for the WorldSkills UK National Competitions in February 2025.
⬤ The selection process for the next WorldSkills Competition in Shanghai has already started so new entrants will be chosen for WorldSkills 2028.
CASE STUDY
Kasia Gierek is a laboratory scientist apprentice for Italmatch Chemicals and is representing Team UK in chemical laboratory technology. Kasia, 22, from Warrington, Cheshire, said: “Taking part in WorldSkills is a huge privilege and carries a significant responsibility. With over 250,000 attendees expected, this is an opportunity to globally showcase the fantastic quality of our education system and demonstrate that here in the UK, we are training our workforce to meet the highest international standards.
“Through WorldSkills UK, I’ve connected with the Royal Society of Chemistry, and now work with them to promote Stem [science, technology, engineering and maths] careers to schoolchildren. I’ve also had the chance to discuss my apprenticeship journey with members of the Department for Education. These opportunities would not have been possible without participating in WorldSkills UK.
“I encourage anyone interested in developing their talents to get involved: it’s an amazing opportunity to push yourself, gain confidence, and open doors to career opportunities.”
News in brief
UK organisations are facing a “talent cliff-edge” with nearly 49 per cent of employees saying they are motivated to leave their jobs once the economy improves. The study from HR software firm Personio also notes that three in five companies have seen employee engagement drop off. Lenke Taylor, chief people officer at Personio, said: “Hiring and keeping the best people is already a challenge for businesses today and our report suggests that retention is about to become even tougher.”
They may be mocked as “Boomers” but a new study claims the oldest workers are thriving at work. By contrast, Employment Hero’s “Wellbeing at Work” report suggests 72 per cent of Gen Z staff feel burned out, compared to only two in five Boomers. Its MD Kevin Fitzgerald said: “This generational chasm must not be dismissed. These young workers will be running the entire economy before long and we desperately need them to succeed in the workplace, not drown in it.”
This week is UK Payroll Week but almost a quarter of British workers have been incorrectly paid in the past year. Despite a third of staff thinking about or checking their work salary or pay rate at least once a week, 11 per cent only “skim” their payslip and one in ten rarely check, trusting it is correct. Ronni Zehavi from HiBob, which conducted the research, said: “Payroll is a persistent challenge within businesses, with incorrect salary payments a consequence.”
The UK food and drink industry is the country’s biggest manufacturing sector by turnover, but fewer than half of young people have considered working in it. To combat this, the Institute of Grocery Distribution and the Food and Drink Sector Council have launched the new Mmmake Your Mark campaign to showcase careers including data science and food security. IGD’s chief executive Sarah Bradbury explains: “Food and drink is the largest private sector employer in the UK.”
Find out more at linkedin.com/showcase/mmmake-your-mark
APPOINTMENT OF THE WEEK
Counter Terrorism Policing HQ is seeking to appoint a change programme manager. The role is not simply about bringing improvements, but delivering a portfolio of projects and programmes to keep millions of people safe across the UK.
Applicants must be comfortable with taking ownership of delivering national and complex change programmes, working with other technical areas such as business design, business change, HR, and ICT to establish projects and deliver outputs to effect overall outcomes.
It is expected that candidates will have strong technical skills such as planning, Raid [Risks, assumptions, issues, and dependencies] management, resource management, business case writing, and be confident in working with PMO analysts and PMO teams.
Experience in working across MSP, Prince2 and Agile programme and project management methodologies is desirable, as are personal qualities including being a strong people manager and leader, able to prioritising the wellbeing of your teams alongside delivery commitments and holding project managers and other technical leads to account.
The salary ranges from: £74,002 to £85,474 plus a location allowance of £2,841, based in West Brompton, west London.
Apply by September 30 at appointments.thetimes.com